Yorkshire's ports 'avoiding the Brexit disruption' seen elsewhere in the UK

Simon Bird, inset, told The Yorkshire Post that the four ports he manages at Hull, Immingham, Grimsby and Goole operate on a different model from the ‘just in time’ system seen at the likes of Felixstowe and Dover.

He said that some customers were having teething issues with paperwork but that there were no queues.

“The volumes up until Christmas were strong across the Humber,” he said.

“That meant January started slowly. There certainly been some teething issues around importers understanding the paperwork but there have been no lorry queues or congestion, but I am aware that some of cargo, that we are not responsible for but the importers are, have been slow as volumes have picked up.

“Talking to the lines those teething problems are beginning to be resolved.”

Mr Bird said that the four Humber ports operate on a ‘roll on, roll off’ model wherein containers are dropped on board ships and then transported to their destination, without the lorry going with them, something that was less likely to cause congestion.

He added that the impact of the new trade deal between the UK and EU had been “pretty minima” thus.

“We are building border control points at Immingham and Hull to conduct the appropriate inspections of food and animal feed.

“We still consume far more than we export. We do have links to the EU but with Hull and Immingham being deep water ports there is a lot of trade elsewhere.”

This week saw the Humber officially launch its bid to receive a freeport designation.

Mr Bird, who is also chair of the Humber Ports Steerco, said that such a designation would attract investment, create jobs and generate wealth for the region that would fan out across Yorkshire and the North of England.